Gunmen kill five police in Indonesian islands

Gunmen have killed five police officers in a pre-dawn attack in Indonesia's Moluccas islands.

Gunmen have killed five police officers in a pre-dawn attack in Indonesia's Moluccas islands.

A Moluccas police spokesman said one attacker had died in the raid on a security post in the chain of islands.

He said about six attackers raided the post in remote Loki village on Seram island, where 14 members of an elite brigade were sleeping, prompting an exchange of fire.

Police said they did not know who was behind the attack.

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Thousands of people were killed in the Moluccas during fighting between Muslims and Christians from 1999 to 2002. Since a 2002 truce, sectarian clashes in the archipelago have subsided, although violence still sporadically erupts.